光环之外的苹果电视机

    几个月前，《史蒂夫·乔布斯传》（Steve Jobs）的作者沃尔特·艾萨克森曾承认，尽管他巨细无遗地展现了对乔布斯的一生，但却有意省略了即将面世的苹果电视机的相关细节。乔布斯寄望苹果的团队带领公司走向未来，但在3月8日于旧金山芳草地艺术中心召开的大会上，苹果团队同样有意对苹果电视机细节避而不谈。苹果只是发布了一款新的苹果电视机，它和之前的版本一样令人失望，只不过多了高清视频功能。

    苹果电视是一款安放在客厅的机顶盒，它能播放存储在iTunes上的电影及电视节目。起初，一些人对其欢呼雀跃，因为他们觉得苹果终于开始支持1080p——目前最高清的格式（之前的版本仅支持720p视频播放）。不过，这点改动实际微不足道，出自库比蒂诺的黑匣子这次不过勉强跟上了竞争对手的步伐。Roku、Vudu等一大票设备早就已经开始支持1080p了。当然，苹果电视机还支持苹果自家的iCloud服务，iTunes用户想必能乐在其中，不过这个功能可谓众望所归，以至于权威专家都懒得提前预测它。

    苹果原本可以干得漂亮得多。坊间关于苹果电视机的谣言一直甚嚣其上，对其做出了许多大胆的预测。首当其冲的当属苹果电视将集成Siri——iPhone 4S的智能私人助理，以及更出色的遥控器，甚至还有传闻称苹果电视机会内置调频收音机。虽然苹果有负众望，但错不在苹果，因为大部分期望的功能根本无法实现。而且要是增加更多功能，这款小盒子可能会不堪重负，特别是考虑到其99美元的超低价格。

    但苹果本原本可以做的一件事是创建苹果电视应用程序商店，将平台开放给外部开发者。然而，苹果从一开始就回避了这个契机，而是转而为用户精心挑选了Netflix和YouTube等少量的应用程序。诚然，目前在这个领域获得成功的厂商可谓寥寥无几。谷歌（Google）电视采用开放平台的模式，但刚一上路就宣告失败。软件漏洞百出、硬件性能不足、界面凌乱不堪、用户输入设备让人摸不着头脑，这款Android电视迅速从“必需品”降格至“可有可无”。整整一年里，谷歌不停宣布对谷歌电视进行改进，而在消费电子展上，诸多厂商也纷纷抛出依托于Android的智能电视机，Android平台这才得以继续存活。苹果在这一年里本应该埋头苦干，开发出新的软件产品。

    虽然苹果似乎完全忽视了苹果电视应用程序，但情况可能并非如此。从iPad发布会上，苹果发布了新的苹果电视用户界面来看，苹果电视机仍将大有可为。选项菜单消失不见了，取而代之的是iOS风格的方形图标。当然，目前如果想创建自己的图标（或频道），仍然必须成为苹果的认可合作伙伴。更加开放、多样的电视应用程序商店暂时还不会出现，一切都要等到苹果完成了伊萨克森所谓的“更重大的电视创新”。

    在此期间，苹果不得不向独立开发者封锁平台（除非开发者愿意通过Airplay从iOS设备推送应用程序）、压抑创新，接受在“客厅争夺战”中再次败北。这就意味着，《愤怒的小鸟》（Angry Birds）暂时不会出现在电视荧屏上了，虽然小鸟们在Roku上活蹦乱跳；Facebook也不能登陆高清电视了，除非观众转投微软（Microsoft）Xbox Live服务。至少到目前为止，新款苹果电视机和其前任一样，难以在市场上有所作为。

    译者：项航

    A few days ago, Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson admitted that he purposefully omitted details about Apple's forthcoming television from his exhaustive account of the visionary's life. Yesterday at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the team Jobs tasked with carrying Apple into the future also left those details out. Instead, the company announced a new Apple TV that's every bit as disappointing as previous versions — only now in crackling high-definition.

    Initially, some rejoiced at the fact that Apple's (AAPL) living room appliance, as well as the iTunes movie and television store it connects to, are finally embracing 1080p, the highest high-definition standard out there. (Previous iterations were only capable of displaying the inferior 720p.) In reality however, the update only brings Cupertino's little black box up to speed with competing devices. The standard has long been offered by the likes of Roku, Vudu and a dozen other devices. iTunes users will certainly benefit from the set-top box's integration with Apple's iCloud services, but this was a feature so expected that pundits barely bothered to predict it ahead of time.

    What could have been is much more interesting. Apple rumor mongers frothed over anticipated upgrades of a more radical flavor. Top on the list was integration with Siri, the iPhone 4S' intelligent personal assistant, a better remote control, even an FM radio tuner. None of those came to be. Yet Apple can hardly be blamed for falling short of expectations, many of which are impossible to meet. And, to create a more robust device would surely have bloated the box, not to mention the $99 price.

    One thing Apple should have done is open the platform widely to outside developers by creating an Apple TV App Store. This is an opportunity that Apple has shunned from the start, making a select few apps like Netflix (NFLX) or Youtube (GOOG) available. True, few have had success with this tact. Google TV embraced the idea but failed with its first pass. Scatterbrained development, underpowered boxes, non-uniform interfaces, and confusing input devices quickly turned the Android-powered peripherals from must-haves to half-offs. And it has taken a year, public announcements of renewed dedication by Google, and a CES lineup jammed full of smart TVs for the platform to stay afloat. That could have been a year in which Apple was busy building a new category of software.

    While it may seem like Cupertino is ignoring Apple TV apps entirely, don't bet on it. The new Apple TV user interface demonstrated at the iPad announcement hints at a better future. Gone are the menu columns in favor of a tiled interface evocative of iOS handheld devices. Of course, to get a square (or channel) of your own, you still have to be an Apple-approved partner — for now. A more open, flourishing TV App Store isn't like to become a reality until the company's bigger television initiative Isaacson hinted at come to fruition.

    In the interim, Apple has decided to keep the platform closed to independent developers too (unless they want to stream their Apps via Airplay from an iOS device), stifling innovation and underwhelming the living room yet again. That means no Angry Birds on your big screen, even though Roku lets them fly, or Facebook on your HDTV, unless you're using Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox Live. For now, the new Apple TV, like its ancestors, is closed for business.